He hasn't figured out an answer to it yet, but Mesa Mountain View basketball coach Gary Ernst will get at least one more chance to diagnose his team's difficulty at lift-off at tip-off.

Fighting through what's seemed an unending line of poor starts, No. 3 Mountain View turned up the defense and hit three pointers to turn back upset-minded and 14th-seed Basha, 48-38, in a second round Division I boys state tournament game at Toro Gym.

Mountain View (22-7) moves on Wednesday's quarterfinals to meet No. 6 Gilbert, a 48-40 winner over Pinnacle. The game will be played at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena at a time to be determined. Basha, which knocked out Highland in the first round on Thursday, closed out coach Mike Grothaus's second season with a 19-10 record and plenty of promise with an primarily underclassmen group.

"Darin Tingey was outstanding tonight," Ernst said. "He's helped our defense so much. His pressure out front once he got in, allowed us to tighten the pressure on their wings. Defense picked it up, and won it for us."

Basha took command early and seemingly was running layup drills the first 10 minutes of the game. The Bears led 14-7 after the opening period and stretched the lead to 20-7 with about six minutes left before halftime. The inspired, at times over-the-top energy of Basha reserve guard Antwan Ross, was specifically hurting the Torors.

Ross scored all eight of his points in the game's first 10 minutes. He connected on three layups  -- two off steals -- and a fourth bucket was a slam uncontested on a baseline drive. Mountain View committed five turnovers in the first period, which didn't help. A couple of those turned into layups. Basha's 24 first-half points all came from 8-feet in.

But it was at the 20-7 juncture Mountain View began increasing pressure defensively with a press and in defending in half court. The catalyst was reserve guard Tingey, who was assigned upon entry, to hound the point. Tingey didn't let Ernst down and the rest of the Toros picked up Tingey's lead. Mountain View closed to within 24-21 at halftime, using first-half scoring hero David Beecher's three-point shooting from the top of the key.

Beecher, a 6-foot-7, forward-post, tallied 13 of Mountain View's first-half points. Three of his four field goals were threes. Mountain View gradually overtook Basha, taking its first lead since the first quarter (25-24) on a runner by junior guard Tommy Kuhse at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter. Trevor Willis put the Toros ahead to stay with a backdoor layin with 2:22 left in the quarter. Kuhse aactually took over the offensive burden in the second half. He scored 12 in the third and fourth quarters. His second runner of the period with a minute left gave the Toros a 31-27 edge heading to the final period.

Back-to-back threes early in the fourth quarter by Beecher and Kuhse bumped Mountain View's lead to 39-27 with 5:18 to go. That and the middle two periods of work by the Toros doomed the Bears. 

In a 16-minute stretch (six minutes left in the second quarter to two minutes gone in the fourth), Mountain View outscored Basha, 29-7. Basha scored only three points in the third period and did not make a basket in the quarter.

Beecher led Mountain View with 16 points and Kuhse finished with 15. Stockton Huish came off the Toros bench and scored eight -- all in the final period. Huish made 6-of-6 free throws to help seal the win. Basha was led in scoring by Klay Stall with 12 points.  

 

 

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